f'S* 

SAFETY BALLOT BOX, 

(Patented May 6th., 1873.) 



OFFICE, 346 & 348 BROADWAY, 




New York. 










































































































































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THE 



(IPAtented. May 6th, IS’73.) 


—/ M 


OFFICE. 346 AND 348 BROADWAY. 

/ 



NEW YORK: 

Levey k Meigs, Stationers and Printers. 26 Exchange Place. 


1878. 












(Fig-. 1.) 




CLOSED AND SEALED 





























































































































































THE 


Safety Ballot Box. 


In presenting to the public “ Marston’s Patent Safety 
Ballot-Box,” it is done with a full knowledge of the difficul¬ 
ties to be encountered in an attempt to introduce a patented 
article; and probably there never was an invention which will 
meet with more opposition, than an honest Ballot-Box. How¬ 
ever, when we consider the extensive “ stuffing ” of ballot-boxes 
at our elections, and that it is impossible to practice that kind 
of fraud upon this Box without detection, we are confident of 
success. 


THE BOX 

is square in shape, and is made of light cast Iron, with the 
exception of the two opposite sides, in which are inserted two 
sheets of Plate Glass, so as to exhibit to each voter, his ballot 
as it is “ dropped ” into the Box. The two sheets of Glass are 
so fastened that it is impossible to remove them when the Box 
is closed, without giving immediate and positive evidence of 
that fact. This Ballot-Box has 




4 


NO LOCK OR KEY. 



(Fig. 2.) 

[ OPEN. ] 


The lid is secured by a fastening (see figure 2 C. C.) which it is 
impossible to tamper with without detection, and'which is con* 
structed and attached to the front of the lid or cover in the 
following manner, viz: a brass frame or escutcheon is secured 
on the under side of the lid ; the frame contains three sliding 
plates, (as represented in figure 4) with openings for seals. 
When the two lateral sliding plates are drawn down the seals 
can be inserted, and the fastenings will fit exactly into the slots 
(A. A.) made in the inside lining of the Box (B. B.) which the 
lid covers when the Box is closed. Push these lateral sliding 
plates upward and the lid is secured, the sliding plates being 
























































5 



Fig. 3.) 


[ LID SHUT AND SECURED, READY FOR 
RECEIVING BALLOTS. ] 

caught by a spring (figure 3 D. L>.) which can only be released 
by the utter destruction of the seals. The central sliding plate 
(E. figure 3) closes the opening through which the votes are 
passed into the Box, and, therefore, by the application of a 
Seal to the central sliding plate, and pushing all the sliding 
plates upward, (as represented in figure 1) access to the Box, 
either to add or abstract votes, without detection is simply 
an impossibility. 


THE SEALS 


are of glass, so made and numbered that it is impossible to 
duplicate or counterfeit them. Like Bank of England Notes 
or Railway Tickets, no two numbers are ever made alike, and 
they are so marked and figured accidentally , by blotches and 
marks, that it is impossible to duplicate them. It is the same 














(Fig-. 4.) 


[LID SHUT BUT NOT SECURED.] 

Seal that the United States Government has had in use so 
long, for Customs, Revenue, Register Gauges, Lock-up Safety 
Valves, and for fastening the cars in the transportation of 
Goods in Bond by Railways. The “ Bank of England ” also 
has them in use, on account of the absolute impossibility of 
imitating them, and no one instance has ever been known 
where a duplicate Seal has successfully replaced an original 
one. 

These Seals are made in large sheets, and before being cut 
they are photographed, and the photographic copies perforated 
like a sheet of Postage Stamps. By that means a Fac simile 
of each Seal is obtained on paper, and each candidate is 
supplied with copies or Fac similes of the Seals used in 
securing every Box in use. The Boxes each having the 
number cast upon the lid, the Seals are readily identified 
(through openings marked 1,2,3 fig. 3) by either or all parties to 
an election. After the voting is over, and the Seals examined, 




































each candidate, oi* his representative, being satisfied that the 
Box has not been tampered with, the Seals are broken, and the 
Boxes are opened one at a time , the others remaining in a 
sealed condition, secure from tampering, till the canvassers are 
ready to count the contents of each Box in its turn. 

Upon the outside of each lid the name of the city for which 
the Box was made, together with the number of the Box are cast 
This identifies the Box, and as they are made of Iron, they 
are durable, strong and able to repel ordinary violence—for it 
would be very difficult to produce a Ballot Box that would 
defeat the efforts of a determined burglar. 

Everything that can be claimed for an honest Ballot Box 
is freely accorded to this one, by all who have seen it. It has 
been subjected to many severe tests, and has been examined 
thoroughly, and reported upon favorably by numerous persons 
in public positions, besides the largest and most influential 
newspapers, both in Europe and America. 

The copies of endorsements contained in this pamphlet, 
should be sufficient to satisfy any one of the real merits of the 
Box—the first on the list being that of The London Times, 
a paper which recommends only that which is thoroughly 
proven to be meritorious. 

The Box can be seen and examined, by application to 

H. C. MARSTON, 

346 & 348 Broadway, New York. 


8 


[London Times, November 11, 1872.] 

During the election at Wolverhampton the ballot boxes were secured by an 
American invention, the “Patent Seal Lock.” ***** 
When the security given by the Patent i§ desired, a seal is dropped into the 
place prepared for its reception before the sliding plate is closed. When this 
has been done, no one, neither the maker nor any other person, can release the 
spring until the seal has been destroyed. So long as the seal is intact there is 
absolute certainty that the fastening has not been tampered with. 


[London Times. December 6, 1872.] 

Col. H. C. Marston, through Messrs. Mordan & Co„ 41 City Road, has just 
brought out a new ballot box. The box is of japanned metal, having a deep*lid, 
and a high internal shoulder rising up within the lid, so as to prevent voting 
papers from being introduced or withdrawn in an irregular manner. In front 
the lid presents a sloping surface, in which a brass frame containing three 
sliding plates for “seals” is inserted. The central plate, when drawn down, 
opens the slit through which voting papers are to be passed into the box, 
and the lateral plates, when they are both drawn down, 'allow the lid of the box 
to be raised. When sealed no voting paper can be passed through the slit 
without first breaking the central seal; and the lid of the box cannot be raised 
without breaking both the lateral seals. As explained in our recent notice of 
the seal lock, these seals are of glass, so lettered and numbered that they can be 
identified, and so made that when broken they cannot be replaced. Hence 
such a ballot box, if its lateral plates are sealed when the voting begins, and its 
central plate is sealed when the voting is over, seems to afford complete security 
against any unauthorized tampering with its contents. 


[Wolverhampton (England) Chronicle, October 0, 1872.] 
************ 

In spite of all these precautions, however, it still might be possible, by the 
exercise of a little cunning, to obtain or provide a fac-simile of the seal used, 
and then having destroyed those put on and gained access to the box, replace 
the seals with others of a similar character. As if to meet the difficulties thus 
suppose! an ingenious invention has just been introduced into this couutry from 
America, which will render any attempt to tamper with the fastening that the 
most cunning experts at lock-picking may devise, impossible, without affording 
most conclusive proof that such tampering has taken place. 

******* ****** 

The seals are about one inch square and contain two colors combined while in a 
fused state. Each seal is numbered, and each number is different, while the 
figures and characters inscribed thereon are as distinct and varied as those 
exhibited by the kaleidoscope. No two, however great the number, are or can 
be made alike, be reproduced or duplicated. 



9 


[Birmingham (England) Morning News, Oct. 31, 1872.] 

Protective invention runs a neck-and-neck race with the science of 
dishonesty. * * * 

To come to the Seal itself, which presents some points for description. At 
the first glance its appearance is that of a small microscopic slide, prepared for 
examination of some dark brown object on its surface. Upon closer inspection, 
we find that the color has been fused into the glass in patches, and that each 
Seal has a number fixed by the same process. Each number is, of course, 
different, and the utter impossibility of reproducing a counterpart pattern of the 
color patch, would be patent to the most enterprising thief. The Seals are 
manufactured wholesale in sheets of several hundred at once. These sheets are 
photographed. The uses to which this most important invention can be applied 
are manifold. As a deterrent to election officials who are not convinced that 
“ Honesty is the best policy,” it is invaluable. 

The Seals may be seen applied to the New Ballot Boxes, which will be in 
use during the Municipal Elections. 


[The Midland Counties Express (Wolverhampton, Eng.) Nov. 2, 1872.] 

*J(e* #3|s:!c5icsjes|ejtc 

By Messrs. Aubin & Son, Wolverhampton, the invention was introduced to our 
Town Clerk (Mr. Underhill) and he at once ordered them for use at the 
different polling booths at the election on Friday next. * * * 

[The London Cosmopolitan, November 28, 1872.] 

Although absolute safety is scarcely attainable, yet ingenuity and care 
considerably lessen the chances of danger in all its various shapes. Captain 
Tyler in his latest report, declares that by the block, and the interlocking 
systems, or by the latter alone, the Kirtlebridge accident would have, been ren¬ 
dered impossible, and, simultaneously, the Dean of Canterbury proclaims that his 
Cathedral is now so thoroughly protected by modern appliances that the risk of 
fire is reduced to a minimum. Strong receptacles of valuables may be forced or 
smashed by determined burglars, but losses are then known. Equally severe 
losses may not be apparent, but in such cases it cannot be said that ignorance is 
bliss. False keys may be fitted to the most intricate locks, and thus papers and 
letters may be read, genuine documents carried off and forged ones put in their 
places, or choice old port may be abstracted and bottle for bottle placed'in the 
bin without immediate detection. The Safety Ballot Box, with its seal, recently 
invented, is a tell-tale that cannot err, a sentinel that cannot be bribed,^""signal 
that once removed cannot be replaced. The spring pin is guarded by a seal, 
which is an oblong piece of glass, one inch long and three-quarters of an inch 
wide, speckled with irregular spots, like a plover’s or yellow-hammer’s eggs. 
Like a Bank of England note, each seal bears a different number, never 


10 


repeated ; and, as a Bank of England note when it returns to the Bank is can¬ 
celled, so each time the box is opened the seal is destroyed. The spring pin can¬ 
not be touched unless the glass is shivered in atoms. A cryptographic method 
of registration renders any deceptive imitation impossible, so that a broken 
seal can never be replaced by a counterfeit. It may be mentioned that these 
seals are already extensively used in the United States, and that they were called 
into requisition for the ballot-boxes used at the late Wolverhampton election. 


[The National Republican, Washington City, D. 0., April 17, 1873.] 

The absolute integrity of the Ballot Box has become of vital importance to 
the best interests of the country, and soon will be so for Great Britain, where 
the vote by ballot has been enacted. It is claimed that this desideratum has 
been attained by means of a Ballot Box invented by Col. H. C. Marston, of this 
city, and which being invented during his sojourn in England, has been there 
first satisfactorily tested. The London Times people had it in their possession 
for three months, but, though calling to their aid the best experts, acknowledged 
that they were unable to open it, and complimented the inventor by a handsome 
notice. It has been used at municipal elections in that kingdom. Wliat Col. 
Marston claims for his Ballot Box is that it is absolutely impossible illegally to 
open it, to take anything from it, without betraying that it has been tampered 
with. 

The inspectors of elections and the opposing candidates are the only persons 
who could by collusion perpetrate a fraud, and one of them at least is more 
deeply interested than any one else in preventing it. The representatives of each 
candidate have their own inimitable glass seal, the same as used in the Bank of 
England. It is just as impossible to reproduce any seal as that Homer’s Illiad 
should come out of a combination of types shaken up in a huge bag. Each of 
them has a photograph of the three seals, and sees with his own eyes that the 
other closes it; then he, too, sees that the instant the polls close the judges of 
elections and inspectors shut the aperture through which the ballots are passed 
into the box, and appends the seal. If tampered with it would involve the 
destruction of all three seals, and the fraud would be immediately discovered by 
those most interested in detecting it. 


[Forney’s Sunday Chronicle, Washington, D. C., May 4, 1873.] 

It is idle to hope for the perpetuation of free institutions unless a stop can 
be put to the stupendous frauds—Federal, State and Municipal—which have in 
so many quarters reduced popular elections to a mere farce. We are glad to 
perceive indications that public attention, without regard to party or section, is 
seriously turning to the subject of electoral reform. This is no easy question to 
solve, so demoralized have politicians become, and so great is the nefarious 
ingenuity of the varied contrivances by which they control or falsify the popular 
vote. 


11 


A weekly and a daily cotemporary, the Sunday Capital and the National 
Republican , both make mention of a new Ballot Box, the invention '“of 
H. C. Marston, of this city, into which, when once closed, nothing can possibly 
be inserted nor anything abstracted without detection, and to which he has been 
calling the attention of various gentlemen of political renown. 

The Capital thinks this a signal instance of misdirected ingenuity, since an 
inviolable Ballot Box would be what politicians would not desire, and no doubt 
some of them would feel about the matter as the Irishman at the bar did when 
the judge condescendingly encouraged him by saying, “Never fear, my good 
man, but that you will have full justice done you here,” when Pat replied, 
“ Faix, and by jabbers, your honor, that is jist what I don’t want.” 

This Box, it appears, was three months in the hands of the London Times, 
which vainly attempted, by the aid of the best experts in that city, to open it, 
and in consequence recommends it in an article which winds up: “Hence such 
a Ballot Box, if its lateral plates are sealed when the voting begins, and its 
central plate is sealed when the voting is over, seems to afford complete security 
against any kind of unauthorized tampering with its contents.” 

Of course the mere invention and adoption of a Ballot Box which can not be 
tampered with would not alone prevent electioneering frauds. It would be 
necessary, besides, to provide against false registration, false personation at the 
polls, and many other fraudulent contingencies, but even if all these were 
effectually prevented, without an inviolable Ballot Box the purity of election 
would not be secured. 

It was, therefore, with some interest we inspected the Marston Ballot Box. 
The one exhibited was of japanned tin. The inventor proposes, however, to 
make them of glass blown over the rim of a metallic lid, so that every ballot 
will be visible as it drops down. Once closed at the end of the voting, it seems 
quite impossible that anything can be put in or taken out of the box without its 
being at once detected. 

A proper body of inspectors for anything tending to protect or purify the 
Ballot would be the Committee on Elections of the State Constitutional Con¬ 
vention now sitting in Philadelphia. 

[Jersey City Times, May 13, lS^.] 

H. C. Marston is showing a curious invention, which will be regarded as 
extremely useful by people who desire to see elections honestly conducted. To 
those who don’t, it will be a serious set back in the manipulation and stuffing of 
ballots. 

The Ballot Box has already been adopted m various English cities and in 
several of the States. After close investigation we should recommend our 
Police Commissioners and Freeholders to introduce it in this city and county 
for several reasons. In the first place the old boxes inherited from the Demo¬ 
crats might sometimes prove too tempting to Republican officers of election; 

• secondly, they would be bad things to leave around if the Democrats ever 
regain power, because we would never get another chance. 


12 


[The New York Times. May L4, 1873.] 

There is now on exhibition at Nos. 346 and 348 Broadway, Room No. 2, 
a new style of ballot box, the invention of Col. H. C. Marston, which appears to 
effectually prevent any tampering, stuffing, or other scientific manipulation of 
ballots so well known to and extensively practiced by Tammany and other 
trading politicians. The box is of japanned tin, the cover overlapping the top 
of the box to the depth of three inches. The fastening is in the form of an 
escutcheon or brass frame, which -contains three plates for seals. The lateral 
plates when fastened secure the lid ; the center plate covers the orifice through 
which the ballots are passed into the box, and the glass seals, which are intro¬ 
duced and fastened into the plates, must be utterly destroyed before the box can 
be opened. The seals are numbered with distinctive figures and characters, no 
two being alike. They are manufactured in sheets and photographed, each im¬ 
pression taken being a fac. simile of the seal. At the closing of the polls the 
centre plate is sealed by the proper person, after which it is impossible to tamper 
with the box without instant detection. The representative of each candidate 
is furnished with a photograph of the seals on the box belonging to his particular 
polling place, so that any rupture or substitution of the originals is instantly 
detected by comparison with the photograph. The plates when closed are secured 
by a spring, and the seals must be entirely destroyed before the spring can be 
released. The box has been used in various municipal elections in Great Britain, 
and has been subjected to many tests in order to ascertain the feasibility of 
tampering with the contents ; but in all such cases it was found impossible to do 
so, unless the seals were destroyed. 


[New York Tribune, May 14, 1873.] 

A bill has been introduced in the Legislature, at Washington, authorizing 
the adoption throughout the entire District of Columbia of a recently invented 
Ballot Box, which is now on exhibition in Broadway. It is of japanned metal, 
having a deep lid and a high internal shoulder within, which makes it perfectly 
secure, and prevents anything from being put into or taken out of the box. In 
front the lid presents a sloping surface, in which a brass frame containing three 
sliding plates is inserted. The central plate, when shut, closes the slit through 
which the votes are passed into the box, the two central plates, when pushed in, 
firmly locking the box by means of knobs attached to their lower sides, which 
fit into grooves in the inside lining. Before locking the box three seals are put 
upon the sliding plates, one by each party in the election, and the central one 
by the inspector of election. These seals are cut from a sheet of glass, in the 
making of which a sprinkling of coloring has been put into the material, so that 
each seal is different from the others, and it is not possible to duplicate them. 
Every seal is photographed and numbered. The idea of the invention is that, 
after once closing the slides, they never can be opened again without removing 
the seals, which can only be done by breaking them. 


13 


[The New York Sun, May 15, 1873.] 

Col. H. C. Marston recently patented a ballot box which is fraud proof. But 
he hasn’t invented a means of keeping out repeaters. 

[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 20, 1873.] 

There was exhibited to the Mayor yesterday by the inventor a Ballot Box 
which has been patented in England and the United States, and which is now 
being brought to the attention of the authorities of States and cities. By the 
application of two simple principles, which will be explained, absolute safety 
against the opening of the Ballot Box, except by the authorized parties has been 
secured. Nobody can get into the box without leaving the plainest evidence of 
violence to betray him behind him, and the collusion of an impossible number 
of persons is necessary to effect an entrance to it, besides which every one of 
them would betray himself in the effort. This invention does not of course 
prevent fraud. But it requires any fraud perpetrated to be done either before 
the ballots go into the box—or after they come out—in the counting of the 
votes. Frauds of that kind are preventible by vigilance. The kind which has 
been nearly always successfully committed, when committed, has had to do with 
stuffing the Ballot Boxes, for which end they have been opened with duplicate 
keys. Access to the contents of this Ballot Box is obviously impossible, as we 
will show; so the chance to commit the kind of fraud known as Ballot Box 
stuffing is out of the question. 

Let us explain. The box as now exhibited is of sheet iron, the material 
easiest for transportation. The boxes can be made, however, of glass, or of 
any material thought best. The box is an ordinary cube in form, the topside 
being the lid, which fits down close and tight, like the lid of a teacaddy. Internal 
shoulders run up from all sides to the top of the lid. On the front side the lid 
slopes, and on the slope are the very simple but perfectly secure fastenings. 
Upon this incline which the lid makes is a sliding pannel shutting with a catch, 
and openable by a provision on the handle of the key. When the pannel is 
released or slid from its position covering the key hole, a square of thin glass, 
about seven-eighths of an inch, by one-sixteenth thick, is slipped into a “ snug,” 
which it accurately fits. The pannels (there are three) are then shot back, at 
once fixing themselves and the seals. It is now impossible to insert the keys 
in the locks without smashing the seals, all to pieces, and a flaw in any one 
would show that tampering had been attempted. If these seals were imitable, 
their likes could be substituted, but they are inimitable, and are rendered 
so by the fusion of red and white glass made in sheets or panes. 
These sheets are then cut by a diamond and become the seals. The 
seals are photographed, and while the same processes gone through with would 
not produce any such seals at all, the photographs of them preserve their resem¬ 
blance intact. These photographs are pasted on the pages of little blank books 
and one book each containing the seals on each box at a polling place is given to 
the officers of election, to each candidate, or to the representative of each, or of 


14 


each Committee. Every book-holder thus becomes a check on all the rest; If 
the seals are smashed that shows. If the seals are changed each book shows. 
And without smashing the seals no human being can get into the box except by 
breaking the entire thing all to pieces. The pannels thus covered by the seals 
fasten the lid and box together by a screw on the inside, just as the knives of a 
jack-plane are secured together. 

Mr. Henry C. Marston, the patentee, and a resident of Washington, though a 
citizen of this State, patented this arrangement in England last Spring. He 
took the box to the office of the London Times in the Fall. That paper stipulated 
in advance of noticing the box that it should be given over to the custody of experts, 
who picked at it for three months, to see if they could get inside the box with¬ 
out breaking the seals. Two hundred and fifty pounds sterling were put inside 
as an incentive. The experts tried for the time specified and could not break 
the seals, and could not make others just like them for substitution. On Decem¬ 
ber 6, last year, the Times stated these facts in an exceptional and quite 
favorable article upon the invention. Since then the Box has been patented in 
the British Empire and the United States, and has been exhibited to the authori¬ 
ties of several cities and of the District of Columbia, securing from all attestation 
of its complete security and admiration for its simplicity. Its general intro¬ 
duction, indeed its compulsory adoption by law, is only a question of time, 
because it entirely neutralizes Ballot Box stuffiing and by so much is about the 
best aid to pure politics and free government which mechanical genius has yet 
supplied to the world. 


[The Capital, Washington City, D. C., June 8, 1873.] 

Some time since we noticed an ingenious contrivance in the way of a Ballot 
Box, that purports to be a positive security against the illegal voting, so far as 
tampering with the box is concerned. We learn since that this Yankee inven¬ 
tion has been adopted in England and France, and is now under consideration 
by a Committee of our Territorial Legislature. By all manner of means let us 
have the honest, anti-fraudulent Ballot Box. Let us have something. 


[Brooklyn Argus, October 10, 1873.] 

A communication was sent to General Jourdan, President of the Police 
Commissioners, yesterday, by Mr. H. C. Marston, inventor of Marston’s Patent 
Safety Ballot Box, stating on what terms he would furnish the city with two 
hundred or more boxes. After reading the letter before the Board, it was 
referred to Chief Clerk Richards, with instructions to send a communication to 
the Board of City Works, recommending the boxes. General Jourdan seems 
very much impressed with the arrangements of the new box, and thinks it is a 
great improvement on the one now in use. Commissioner Briggs thinks that the 
box is a safe one, and cannot be tampered with. 


S. s 


15 . 


Col. H. C. Marston, 

New York. 


Washington City, D. C., April IV, 18V3. 


Sir : We the undersigned, having examined your Ballot Box, do fully 
endorse and recommend its adoption, believing it to be secure against all kinds 
of unauthorized tampering. 

S. P. Brown, 

D. W. Bliss, 

N. W. Burchell. 


Brooklyn, June 19, 18*73. 

1 have carefully examined Col. Marston’s Ballot Box and I fully endorse 
the same for absolute security. 

J. JOURDAN, 

President Police Commissioners. 

We fully concur with General Jourdan. 

S. S. Powell, Daniel D. Briggs. 

Mayor. Police Commissioner. 


Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. IV, 1873. 

I beg to state that I have carefully examined “ Marston’s Patent Ballot 
Box,” and that I am entirely satisfied that it is not only in every respect 
superior to every other such box so far introduced into use. but that it possesses 
absolutely every possible element of security that is attainable. So far as 
election frauds can be prevented by a Ballot Box. I am confident that this one 
will prevent them. 

S. B. DUTCHER. 


Brooklyn, Oct. 25, 1873. 

I have examined the Improved Ballot Box, patented by Mr. H. C. Marston, 
and consider it a complete safeguard against fraudulent voting. 


H. H. WHEELER, 

Of Board of Election , Brooklyn, N. Y. 





16 


Police Department of the City of New York, 

No. 300 Mulberry Street. 

New York, October 18, 1813. 

Col. H. C. Marston, 

New York. 

I have carefully examined your Patent Safety Ballot Box, and unhesi¬ 
tatingly testify to the fact, that it is impossible to tamper with it, without instant 
detection. 

Hugh Gardner, 

Police Commissioner, New York. 








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